Don't Forget to Breathe
by nifleheim
Summary: Years after the war with the Akatsuki, Tsunade and Jiraiya find themselves facing a hooded figure revealling a very surprising secret. Who is this man with golden hair and piercing blue eyes! find out.. ItaNaru
1. Chapter 1

**Don't Forget to Breathe**

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any its characters…

This is just my sad attempt to rid myself of boredom!

I hope you enjoy reading this piece of crap…please tell me what you think! thank you!

* * *

As the moon rise steadily in the sky and darkness begins to loom over the peaceful village of Konohagakure no Sato, also known as the Village Hidden in the Leaves, a hooded figure can be seen standing at the top of the head of one of the former hokages in the Hokage Monument.

It has been years after the last shinobi war where the army of the leaf and its allied countries fought with the fearsome Akatsuki with their allied villages and other missing nins; the war has been very gruesome and a lot died but in the end, the leaf and her allies won bringing peace to her village.

The hooded figure was a man standing 6 feet tall and is clearly staring at the village beneath him. He looks serenely at the glowing lights of the houses and at the people who were coming home; he was looking longingly to a scene of a father coming from work to a home where he was greeted by his loving wife and very cheerful children with hugs and kisses. In a second, a man in the same hooded attire walked out of the shadows and spoke, "It is time Namikaze-sama."

The first hooded figure sighed before speaking; "Let's go"before he vanished into the shadow while the other vanished in a swirl of leaves.

In the Hokage Tower…

A well-endowed blonde woman who looks to be in her late twenties is seen looking at the clock on her wall seemingly waiting for someone to come while downing another bottler of sake. In front of her is her desk where a scroll she was reading was lying. She has been like this for days; reading the scroll over and over trying to see if the words written on it were true. As she was again drinking her bottle of sake a white-haired slightly built man entered her office…

"What is it that you need of me Tsunade-hime, decided to have a date with me because you can't get me out of your mind?!" asked the well known, Legendary Sannin and Toad Sage, also the writer of the Icha Icha Paradise Collection of Books, both a blessing and a curse to mankind in Tsunade's opinion.

Jiraiya was instantly answered with a glare that promised a world of pain if he does not shut up immediately. Tsunade, The Godaime Hokage, one of the Legendary Sannin, Slug Lady and Legendary Sucker was known for her medical expertise and oh so fragile temper; and so the Toad Sage kept his mouth shut. Upon looking into his old friend's face, he saw that there were lines on her face and her eyes looked older which means there is something wrong or at least bothering her. "What is bothering you, my old friend?!" asked Jiraiya.

"Look at this scroll" answered Tsunade while tossing the scroll in her desk to her former teammate.

When Jiraiya opened the scroll and read it, his eyes bugged out and almost fell off of their sockets clearly showing disbelief and at the same time amazement. "Is this true?!" asked Jiraiya.

"I'm not entirely sure. It was brought here be a summoned eagle two days ago and before I could ask the eagle it just poofed away." Said the hokage with a smile on her face.

"It says here that _he _will be coming here tonight!"

"And that is right Ero-Sennin or should I say Jiraiya-sensei?!" said a third voice who appeared out of the darkness. Upon hearing the voice the two sannins were immediately on guard thinking: _Impossible! We didn't even notice someone is in here! _They looked at the side of the office from where they heard the voice and saw two headed figures standing there. The man who spoke moved forward and said "Long time no see!"

"Who are you and what are you doing here?!" asked threateningly by Tsunade.

"I am the one who sent you the letter. Don't you remember me?!" the man asked seemingly hurt while removing his hood revealing golden hair and eyes as blue as the skies of May and Jiraiya and Tsunade were left speechless and staring in shock.

"You – You're BACK!!" Jiraiya screamed.

"I am"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters…

This is just my sad attempt to rid myself of boredom!

This is my first try on writing a fanfic… I hope you enjoy reading this piece of crap… please tell me what you think, I would really appreciate it… thanks!

* * *

"You – You're BACK!!" Jiraiya screamed.

"I am"

"How… How did this happen?! You were dead! We searched for your body…." Jiraiya spoke dumfounded.

"It is the reason why you didn't find it don't you think?!" the once hooded figure replied.

"How do we know you're telling the truth?! How do we know that you are truly _him_?! That you're not just some dead body that our enemies conjured or something! Orochimaru found a way of resurrecting the dead and control them, it is bloody hell possible that someone used his technique and brought you back just to fool us and then eventually kill us!" cried out Tsunade, torn between hugging the man and just outright killing him.

"It is _him_!" answered the hooded man standing behind the blonde figure in a cold and mocking voice, ticking off the Legendary Sannins.

"And who are you?!" challenged the Legendary Toad Sage with a glare coupled with some killing intent.

"All will be revealed in time. Please, there's no need for that killing intent so I suggest you keep yourself in check Ero-Sennin. We are not here to have a fight with anyone; I just wanted to have a talk with you about something important." The blonde man spoke calmly.

"Before anything else. Prove to us that you are _him._"

"Fine." The blonde man spoke, started doing a series of hand seals then bit on his thumb until blood was drawn out and slammed his palm into the floor summoning a toad. The toad spoke to the blonde man, "What is it boss?!"

"Ah! Gamakichi could you tell Jiraiya here who I am?!" the blonde man said speaking to the toad now almost occupying the whole room.

"Ha! Ero-sennin! It is _him_! _He _is alive!" talking to the toad sage.

"Thanks Gamakichi. You may go now. I'll call you when I need your help." The blonde man said.

"Good bye for now boss!" said the toad summon before disappearing.

"It really is you! I never thought… why wasn't I informed of this?! Those bastard toads! They could have told me!" cursed the Great Jiraiya.

"I simply asked them not to. So, does that answer your question of who I really am?!"

"It does. It is nice to know that you are alive!" said Jiraiya while walking towards him and patting his shoulder.

Before anyone knew it the blonde figure was tackled and was being hugged by no other than the Godaime Hokage. "Welcome back little brother. Welcome back." She said while crying on his chest.

"Thank God you're alive. I though I lost you. Welcome back Naruto."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters…

This is just my sad attempt to rid myself of boredom!

This is my first try on writing a fanfic… I hope you enjoy reading this piece of crap… please tell me what you think, I would really appreciate it… thanks!

* * *

"You know that it would take a lot more to dispose of my Baa-chan. Do you not believe in me?!"

"I know and I believe in you but it's been years since we've heard from you. We've been searching for you for quite some time and we didn't find any trace of your whereabouts we just assumed you died no matter how hard it is for us." Tsunade spoke sobbing.

"No need to cry anymore Tsunade, I'm back."

"What happened to you Naruto?! When you defeated the leader of Akatsuki you just vanished."

"Well… It is a long story."

"We have time…" Jiraiya started to speak when he was interrupted by the hooded figure "We don't have time for this Namikaze-sama…"

"Namikaze…sama?! You know?! How?!" Tsunade asked with worry in her voice.

"It's ok. We still have time; I did come here to see my precious people and I do have a lot of things to clarify. Why don't we all sit down and I'll begin my story"

_Flashback_

As the war between villages goes nearer to its conclusion, bodies of countless ninjas from both sides – Konoha and her allies and Akatsuki and company, lie scattered, some mutilated, on the battlefield. The Rookie 9 with Gai's Team was either panting from physical or chakra exhaustion. It was clear that Konoha and her allies were winning the war. With the power of the Kazekage, Hokage, Toad Sannin and finally the Kyuubi Jinchuriki the enemies were either buried in sand, stepped on by large toads, pummeled to the ground by extreme strength or just plain burnt by the Kyuubi's chakra. It was also surprising that unexpected allies came to aid the village in their battle. Uchiha Sasuke, who left the village in search for power returned after killing Orochimaru and helped in defeating the Akatsuki's army with the help of his snake summons and Team Snake; Zabuza and Haku were also there to aid the leaf. With Zabuza's skills in kenjutsu and water jutsus and Haku's special bloodline it was only a matter of time that the Akatsuki's forces were lessened. Zabuza and Haku were defeated in battle by Team 7 in the Land of Wave during one of their missions; they despise Gato and his men and helped Team 7 in defeating the low life. In the end, Zabuza and Haku became friends with Team 7 and promised to aid anyone in their teams if any one of them needed help before separating wats, therefore aiding them in the war against Akatsuki. Ninjas from other shinobi villages like the ones in the Land of Snow and Tea Country also came to aid the Leaf. Probably the most surprising person to aid them was Itachi, supposedly traitor and murderer of the Uchiha clan. It was a sight to see the two Uchiha brothers fighting against Tobi, also known as Madara Uchiha. The two fought flawlessly against their ancestor and though they were almost defeated, in the end they won against Madara, killing the man and exacting revenge for theit massacred clan. What's more surprising than the aid of Itachi is that Sasuke did not have any killing intent towards Itachi.

It was a few months before the war when Naruto and Sasuke fought against each other for the 10th time after Sasuke's defection; Sasuke has just killed Orochimaru was looking for Itachi with his new team, Team Snake. Naruto was again ssearching for Sasuke to tell him of his recent discovery – Itachi was and is innocent; he did not murder the Uchiha clan, it was Uchiha Madara who did so and framed Itachi by using a genjutsu on Sasuke. As the two hit each other with their jutsus, the two got thrown away. Sasuke hit a tree and because of too many wounds and chakra exhaustion was not able to move or stand up. Naruto went over to Sasuke and explained the situation with the help of necessary evidence he acquired that shows that the older Uchiha is indeed not the one who caused the massacre of their family. With the new found knowledge, Sasuke accepted the blonde's offer in returning to Konoha and be reinstated as a Konoha shinobi along with his teammates; of course, a severe punishment was given to them but it Sasuke accepted it better than anyone thought.

As war was waging in the outskirts of Fire Country, an epic battle was commencing in the very center of the battlefield. It was the battle between the leader of the Akatsuki, Pein, wielder of the Rinnegan and Uzumaki Naruto, Jinchuriki of the Nine Tailed Demon Fox; two legendary warriors wielding powers known only in legends. As the two warriors and their jutsus clashed for the last time, an explosion followed by a bright light enveloped the whole battlefield and as the dust settled and the aftermath of the explosion receded, everyone saw Pein fall to the ground dead. Every shinobi stayed silently waiting for Naruto to surface but he did not appear. The Konoha ninjas rejoiced for the defeat of the Akatsuki with the exception of the Rookie 9, Team Gai and their senseis, Tsunade, Jiraiya, Shizune, Iruka, Gaara and his siblings and other shinobies close to Naruto who were searching for his body. Naruto together with Haku, Zabuza and Itachi were gone and not one of their bodies were seen.They searched the whole place for his body but did not find any. It was a bitter-sweet event for Naruto's precious people. The women were brought to tears while the men were searching furiously for the bodies but they were never found. The world was indeed a safer place for its inhabitants but the pain that the people who were close with the once hyper-active blonde were dumbfounded; they were left in painful agony looking for their precious friend and savior who sacrificed everything, even his life. Naruto.

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A/N. I'll be posting the other part of the flashback in the next chapter. if some things confuse you please let me know. other things will be revealed during the course of the story. oh and thank you for the ones who reviewed. thank you everyone!


	4. Author's Note

Author's Note:

sorry for not updating for so long. i have been quite busy with things and i really got confused with the next part of the story. i dont have any outline you see; its just in my head.anyway, ill try to update soon.thank you!


	5. Chapter 4

A/N: This is Chapter 4 of my story. sorry for the long wait...

The world was indeed a safer place for its inhabitants but the pain that the people who were close with the once hyper-active blonde were dumbfounded; they were left in painful agony looking for their precious friend and savior who sacrificed everything, even his life. Naruto…

As Naruto was finishing the first part of his story, an eagle of great beauty appeared outside the Hokage's window scratching the glass. Immediately, the hooded figure went and opened the window to let the eagle in; it soared over Jiraiya's and Tsunade's heads and perched itself on Naruto's shoulder.

"What is it Lawin (1)? Have our lines been breached?" Naruto said.

The great eagle spoke: "The enemy has started moving. They are moving towards the east. Our allies are finished preparing and are ready to defend the boarders."

"What do you mean?" Jiraiya inquired.

"It's what we are here for in the first place. We got side-tracked because of the story-telling." The hooded figure said irritatedly. "Namikaze-sama, we've got to start the preparation."

"I know, I know… Lawin, go to Haku and inform him that we have reached Konoha and are speaking with the Hokage." The eagle nodded, opened its wings and flew outside the window.

Naruto turned to Tsunade, saying: "Tsunade, we need the old gang, including the senseis. We need to prepare for a war."

"A war? What do you mean? What war? What's happening?" Tsunade asked.

"A battle is about to start, dark forces are wanting to take over the shinobi lands and Konoha needs to prepare if it wants to survive. All the other allies have been preparing and Gaara is meeting with Haku now to arrange the plans. This is what we came here for." Upone finishing his sentence, Naruto went through a series of hand seals and whispered something in the air.

"I see… Shizune, send a hawk to our elites including the Rookie 9 and their senseis. This is an emergency!"

"Yes, Hokage-sama!"

"What was it that you did?" Jiraiya asked.

"I was communicating with someone, he should be here by the time the others arrive. My own special invention."

"You should send message to mother that we're here with Tsunade. I bet she's worrying." Naruto spoke to the hooded figure while waiting for the other ninjas.

"I've already sent a message while you were finishing your dramatic speech. I've also sent word to your precious koi. He gets pretty worried when you're separated. Who would have though he'd be an emotional bastard?!"

"Don't let him here you saying that! Haha!"

"Tsunade-sama, why have you called us?" Kiba interrupted the conversation upon entering the room with the other ninjas.

"Is that Naruto?" Sasuke immediately asked upon seeing the blonde. Everyone stayed silent until Sakura shrieked: "You are an impostor! Naruto is dead!" All the other ninjas seemed to agree by nodding their heads though they were all wishing that it is indeed Naruto in front of them.

"I am Naruto."

The ninjas stayed silent, looking at the two great sannins, asking for approval. When they both nodded, with smiles on their faces, the entire rookie 9, their senseis and Iruka went to Naruto and immediately hugged him; of course they all missed the hyperactive ninja!

"Where have you been dobe? We've been looking for you? Where's Itachi?

"You're quite talkative Sasuke."

"Tsk. Dobe. I missed you brother" Sasuke has grown closer with Naruto even before the last shinobi wars, he has even accepted Naruto as his brother. They hugged and smiled at each other.

"How are you Naruto? You got me worried. Everyone said you were dead but I didn't believe them and in the end, I was right." Said Iruka while hugging Naruto in a motherly way.

"…"

"Don't smother him, Iruka-koi. We missed you Naruto" Said Kakashi.

When Iruka stopped hugging Naruto and turned to Kakashi to punch him in the face, Naruto asked dumbfounded: "You're lovers?"

Irukas said: "NO! How many times have I told you not to call me that you Cyclopes!?"

"But my love…"

"Namikaze-sama we need to start with the planning. We have limited time…" the hooded figure interrupted.

"That voice…. It can't be…" Kakashi said, shock and confusion written on his face.

"You can't be… Obito?"

A/N:

(1) Lawin is actually the filipino term for eagle

I hope this chapter is to your liking...

Thank you for everyone who reviewed and added me or this story to their faves or alerts. i'm sorry if it took me so long to upload...i hope this ain't too bad. i'm not contented with what i wrote..anyway, i'm open to suggestions and comments..feel free to review...thank you everyone! gud nyt!


	6. Chapter 5

Hey. It's me again. I made this in wuite a hurry, I hope you like it. R and R please. Thank you everyone!

"Namikaze-sama we need to start with the planning. We have limited time…" the hooded figure interrupted.

"That voice…. It can't be…" Kakashi said, shock and confusion written on his face.

"You can't be… Obito?"

The hooded figure stopped and was looking at Naruto as if asking him what to do. Naruto nodded and with a sigh the hooded figure faced Kakashi.

"I see, you still remember me scarecrow… or should I say the Great Copy Nin?" Obito said while taking off his hood.

"Obito… I thought you were dead? I… I saw it with myself… you… how?"

"It's a long story my friend. Perhaps when the time is right?" said Obito as he approached and hugged Kakashi.

Kakashi was slack-jawed but in the end, he hugged Obito and started sobbing.

Everyone stopped talking and watched the two. Iruka, for some reason, felt a tinge of pain in his chest but dismissed it. As the scene was playing, a man appeared with a swirl of leaves.

"I never thought I'd see Kakashi-sensei sob like this." The man with long black hair and porcelain skin said in amazement, although just only Naruto can see it because of his almost blank expression.

"Stop it, Itachi. Kakashi-sensei just missed his friend." Said Naruto while approaching Itachi.

"You're late!"

"I'm sorry Namikaze-_sama_." Saying the last part in a low voice.

"Ahh. You're taunting me." Naruto said with a slight bush on his face.

"You know you like it." Itachi whispered so Naruto would be the only one to hear.

Naruto who was blushing smiled then face the others. "I'm sorry to sadden this little reunion but we have more pressing matters to discuss."

Everyone stopped from what they were doing, faced Naruto and listened to him.

"Itachi…" Sasuke was about to interrupt Naruto when Itachi spoke. "I'm sorry Sasuke, but I'll explain everything later. Everyone we're on the verge of another war."

"What?! But it's so peaceful now here in Konoha." Ino said in disbelief.

"I'm sorry Ino, but Itachi is right. As of now, a new threat is coming, wanting to destroy the world. A group more evil than the Akatsuki or Orochimura ever was."

"What? More evil than they are?"

"Yes." As Naruto said this a large explosion outside the gates of Konoha was heard.

"They're here. Why aren't we informed?" Obito interrupted.

"Everyone prepare for war. Tsunade-sama please prepare your ninjas." Itachi said.

"This is gonna be bad." Naruto stated. Indeed, everyone felt chills.


End file.
